The invention concerns an internal-combustion engine with a cylinder and a piston which is displaceably guided in the cylinder, the piston having a piston head facing a combustion chamber and coupled to a crankshaft via a connecting rod.
Engines of this type have been known for more than a hundred years and are used as stationary drives as well as for vehicles. The cylinder in these combustion engines is closed on one side with a cylinder head and, on the other side, a piston is moveably guided in the cylinder to transfer the driving force to a crankshaft via a connecting rod as the combustion gases expand. Combustion engines operating according to this principle may function in two cycles or four cycles, such as Otto and diesel engines. The efficiency of these engines is, however, very low.
It is the underlying purpose of the invention to provide a combustion engine having higher efficiency.